Roses in the Garden at Petit Gennevilliers

When this was painted, around 1886, the garden still belonged to two brothers. Gustave Caillebotte and his younger brother Martial had bought the land together in 1881, at a spot on the Seine called l'Île aux Draps, near the Paris sailing club and across the river from Argenteuil. For some years it was their place for sailing and flowers outside the city. That changed soon after. Martial married in June 1887, Gustave bought out his share, and from 1888 he lived there for good, adding a studio and a greenhouse and redesigning the garden completely. These roses belong to the earlier garden, before that rebuilding. The young woman looking over them is usually identified as Charlotte Berthier, the painter's companion, and her small black dog waits on the path. The canvas, more than a metre wide, is in a private collection.